The Maternal Instinct

The role of women as mothers is challenged in the novel, “The Edible Woman”. Clara is “traditional” mother in the sense that she is married and stays at home with her young children while her husband goes to work. She is clearly unhappy with the arrangement, however, and depends on her husband to do most of the domestic work in addition to making money for the family. Clara refers to her children as “leaches” and “barnacles’ and wonders aloud how anyone can love their children before they are actually human beings. Clara dropped out of college to marry Joe and feels resentment towards the loss of her identity and places this unhappiness on the shoulders of her children.

Ainsley’s desire to be a mother is different from Clara in that she desires the role. Whereas Clara depends on her husband to help with the children...